Poda Island Adventure

March 30

Today we get up and have our coffee with Sarah and Lee at our new favorite restaurant.  After two pretty strong cups, we get back home to grab the kids for breakfast.  We have found a much cheaper alternative to yesterday’s meal and intend to check it out today.  After stuffing ourselves, we make a pit stop to Seven 11 for snack and back home to change into our suits for da beach.  We get some quotes for long-boat taxis and decide on which option to choose before getting our tickets and heading off.  It is a much longer ride that we expect, but when we pull up into the crystal clear waters of Poda Island we are not disappointed in our selection.  The boat driver tells us he will be back at 4pm to pick us up….we need to look for boat #8 for the return trip or else……We circle around the very busy island and decide before we commit to where to sit, we must first swim in the wonderful water.  And we do….for a very long time.  Since we are swimming in the boating lanes, we opt to dry off and search out a more secluded spot.  Paulie and I have investigated the shore and have found a nice shady, sandy spot near more quiet waters for swimming and picnicking.  We make PB&J sandwiches and have drinks before going in and out of the water for the better part of the afternoon.  The snorkeling is fun and we have a really good day.  Around 4, we make our way back to the drop off point and sure enough, there is boat #8 waiting to take us back home.  When we get there, we part ways with Sarah and Lee and rest up until we meet again for dinner.  After a pretty long nap time, we meet for dinner and return to our newest favorite restaurant for more good eats.  After dinner, Lee wants to treat us to a heavenly dessert he has found with coconut and banana.  He orders three desserts and then darts off to the Seven 11 for some unknown reason.  He returns a short while later with a very large Thai tea to share with Hudson (who has let it be known that he doesn’t like coconut).  It is a very sweet gesture and one that has Hudson rocking for hours…..thanks a lot JK.  We take the desserts down to the water’s edge and watch as people light these huge paper lanterns with candles inside.  The lanterns rise up very quickly into the air and are quite magical looking as they light up the sky.  As we are preparing to part, we hatch a great plan to make our mento memories last forever…..be on the lookout!

Beach day with friends and monkeys

March 29

Walking Street, Ao Nang Thailand

Woke up early in search of a good cup o’joe and we find it after a short search.  Fresh brewed with real milk and cheap…..Perfect!  Upon our return to the hotel, I intercept an email from Lee and Sarah saying they are heading our way.  We are looking forward to heading to the beach today and making our own comparisons to Koh Tao….we are positively certain it will not measure up to the most wonderful beach (our opinion) in Thailand.  We email back to Sarah and Lee and inform them of where we will be on the beach and head out to breakfast.  We find a nice, but expensive restaurant and enjoy a very filling meal

Monkey see......

prior to donning our bathing suits.  The day is hot and humid and a dip in the water will do us just fine.  We walk down the long stretch of sand to the far left-hand side of the cove and notice a group of people

Monkey do!

standing around and upon closer inspection, we notice there is a group of monkeys playing and fighting near a small walkway.  We watch the drama unfold and then find a place to set down all of our stuff on the beach.  Shortly thereafter, we are met by our friends.  Sarah has quite the sunburn and opts to sit and guard on the beach while Lee jumps in the tepid water with us.  We float about for a long time before hitting the shore for a lunch break.  There are any number of nice little beach front huts serving reasonably priced food.  We have a little this n that and return to the beach to frolic in the surf.  Toward the late afternoon, we walk back into town and make plans to meet up for dinner later on.  We return to our hotel to get cleaned up and back downstairs for our meeting time.  We venture up the main avenue, winding among the night vendors until we find a long street with a hand-painted sign and an arrow pointing toward a “family” restaurant.  We are a family…..so we give it a go and it turns out to have something for everyone on their very comprehensive menu.  We settle down at a very large table and enjoy a lovely meal together.  After dinner, we flock to the Seven 11 for our ubiquitous Mento run….this is becoming habit forming.  We stock up on a substantial amount and share them all around before calling it a night and heading home.  We hope to meet again tomorrow and possibly share a boat out to one of the nearby islands for sun, swimming and snorkeling!

From Ao Nang with love

March 28

We wake up and enjoy some lovely Nescafe at the hotel lobby and check email, etc. before making our departure for Ao Nang, a nearby beach. We have been instructed to take the pick-up taxi (white only) to our destination and given the exact amount that we should be charged.  Sure enough, we soon get a taxi from across the street and as we wave good-bye to Sarah and Lee are on our way.  It takes about 30 minutes before we arrive in Ao Nang and while underway meet a couple of ex-pats from England in the taxi.  They give us a few pointers about town and soon we are on the sidewalk in search of a hotel that we have a tentative reservation for.  We have learned to check them out before paying these days as you never know what you are going to get.  Also, sometimes when you walk-in you can get a better rate than is posted online……getting pretty travel savvy!  I walk in and try on my best negotiation hat only to be given a price that is nearly twice what the online quote is.  I quickly boot up my computer to show the not-so-lovely receptionist the price quote.  She is not too happy about it, but agrees to show me two rooms anyway.  We are not quite ready to commit, so Annie and I walk around town a bit to search out a better deal if possible while Paulie and the boys have lunch.  Looks like we have found the best deal already, so we return to the hotel to check in.  We make our way up the four flights of stairs, lugging all of our bags along with us and find the two rooms that are earmarked for us.  Only problem:  four beds, five people…..they charge and arm and a leg for a rollaway (I guess to make up for the amazing price deal we got online) and Sam agrees to sleep on the sofa/divan….what a guy!  We soon venture out to check out the town and find the very lovely beach nearby.  Soon enough, hunger comes calling and we all head off in search of cheap food.  We find a very mom and pop noodle shop and pull up a stool for dinner.  Lovely meal!  Afterward, we stroll around town among the street vendors and then return to our two rooms to settle in for the night.

Leaving Koh Tao by boat, boat, bus, truck, bus

March 27

Today we got up pretty early and Annie and I headed out to the “early” bakery to try to locate the fresh doughnuts and we were successful!!  Luckily!  We returned the hotel to share our delicacies and to rouse everyone awake with the wafting aroma.  Once up, we packed up all of our stuff and headed down to the restaurant for pre-departure coffee.  We are sad to say goodbye to our friends at In Touch and we take some photos to remember them by.  All of a sudden, we realize there is a guy climbing the coconut tree near the restaurant and he is scaling the tree and chopping off huge bunches of coconuts.  It is very cool to watch how quickly he can climb up the tree.  We snap a few photos and then pile into our waiting taxi to the Catamaran Pier for departure.  I stand in line and when I finally get to the counter, I am told to go stand in a different line….which I do.  After procuring our physical tickets we stand in yet another line to wait for the arriving ferry to empty all of the newest inhabitants to Koh Tao.  We board the boat and are shortly underway.  After about an hour, we arrive at Koh Phanghan where we stop for about an hour while waiting for a smaller boat to take us to Surat Thani.  We pile onto a bench in the meager bit of shade they have and wait for the arrival of Boat #2.  We manage to purchase fresh fruit and popsicles while we wait which makes everything much nicer.  Once the “new” boat arrives, we get re-settled into our new chairs for a 2 ½ ride.  We pass the time pretty well by reading and dozing.  Once there, we reclaim our bags and depart the boat to be loaded onto two very large buses.  We get comfy and settled for the 3 hour bus ride to Krabi.  We soon meet the nicest couple from England – Sarah and Lee – and the time flies by as we get to know them.  After about an hour, the bus stops at a Seven-11 which we assume is for a potty break and snacks……but we are wrong.  We disembark the bus and are told we have 5 minutes to get back.  Once we re-emerge from the toilet our bus is gone and in its place stands a pick-up truck with an open back waiting to take us to another bus…..hmm.  Well, Paulie has left his book on board the previous truck and the boys have left their tickets there as well.  We are driven to a small restaurant across town and told to wait.  Since we cannot locate the tickets, we are forced to purchase new ones.  Poor Paulie…..he was so into his book and kept talking about how great it was L.  We purchase two new tickets (yea) and board the bus that will hopefully take us to Krabi.  We are in the same boat (er, bus) with Sarah and Lee so we enjoy the company while we have it.  The time flies by and we arrive in Krabi around 7pm.  We are dropped virtually in the middle of nowhere and are given extraordinary quotes to get a taxi to almost anywhere.  Sarah and Lee have booked a very affordable hotel in town and much to the disappointment of the two women who are trying to get us to book some over priced hotel rooms, we opt to follow along with our new friend.  The women, in a last ditch effort to discourage us from leaving, pretend to phone the hotel and are pleased to announce that the hotel has no more vacancies for us……we’ll see about that.  If they don’t we will find another option nearby.  Sure enough, the hotel has plenty of rooms and we get a fabulous deal to boot.  We unpack and are told about a buffet restaurant nearby so we agree to give it a try.  Sarah and Lee are vegetarians so they can only have salad, which the restaurant agrees to let them have for free.  We, on the other hand, have a wonderful meal of cooked meats, chicken, shrimp, veggies, fried rice and plenty of ice cream for dessert.  Yum.  We return to the hotel after a quick Seven-11 run (for Mentos, of course) and settle in for a very restful night.

Your baht or my baht?

March 26

In the middle of the night there is a huge thunderstorm and the rains came pouring down outside, but left behind a really brilliant day.  This is going to be our very last day on Koh Tao and we are all a bit sad about that prospect.  We begin the process of tidying up our belongings.  Annie, Paulie and I go off to our favorite bakery and get a HUGE cinnamon bun, a custard filled doughnut and a strawberry filled doughnut that we all share among ourselves.  Afterward, I decide to have a much needed haircut at a nearby salon.  I must admit, I am not very conservative, but have a little moment of pause as my “ladyboy” hairdresser approaches me with a pair of scissors.  All is well and I get a very nice haircut and a very good story to tell my friends.  Annie and I then decide to have a pedicure which turns into a bit of a fiasco.  We sit down for a one hour procedure and about twenty minutes into it, they start polishing.  That ain't right!  I do my best to tell them that they menu says that a pedicure is one hour for 150Baht and they do their best to tell me that the card is wrong....not one hour.  Well, by my reasoning, not one hour...then not 150Baht.  We go back and forth for a while and I finally offer them 100Baht each....the proprietress refuses to take my money and opens the door for us to leave.  Not what I had in mind.  

Nevertheless, we then decide to just enjoy our last day with plenty of rest and relaxation and the best way to do that is to go to the beach and float around for a while.  We venture out in the late afternoon to seek out a new place for dinner and while we are underway Hudson’s stomach begins to hurt.  He may have had enough of Asian food for a while, so we stop by a grocery and pick him up some cereal and milk and walk him back home.  We return to find a restaurant and come across a new place that was recommended to us by some of our friends at the dive shop.  We order a nice meal and Paulie finally has a dessert he has been wanting for a while – Mango and Sticky Rice!  We get home and Paulie and I go down to the hotel restaurant to do a little internet research on our next location – Krabi and Ao Nang Beach.  Turns out there is no internet connection, so we have wonderful chat with one of the restaurant guys.  He is from Burma and immigrated to Thailand 16 years ago.  He was a monk in Burma for one year and we have a long conversation with him about Buddhism.  We return to the room to drift off to sleep and to look forward to waking up early to depart our little paradise.

Doughnuts, Milkshakes....oh my!

March 25 

Woke up to the smell of freshly made doughnuts courtesy of Annie and Paulie.  They have discovered, through a recommendation of Sarah at the dive shop where to obtain the freshly made doughnuts only available between the hours of 6:00 and 8:30am.  Paulie gets a coffee in a bag…first one ever. We eat them up in a second and then make our way down to the hotel restaurant to our favorite smiling faces for coffee. We all take an early morning swim for a little while. Hudson is due at the dive shop around 11:30 to go out for his last three dives and then he will be giving his final exam in order to receive his Open Water Diver license.  He is quite nervous about going on the dive and wants Paulie to join him on the boat.  We all walk them to the dive shop and then  Sam, Annie and I go around the corner to a passport photo place to get picture for our upcoming visas to Cambodia and Vietnam.  Then the three of us decide to chill out for a while at the hotel.  Afterward, we walk into the town of Mae Haad to see some new sights and we purchase Mango and Coconut milkshakes to cool off with and to wash down our banana and nutella pancake.  We find some good bargains for Billibong shorts, Haviana flipflops and other assorted items before returning to Sairee Beach to see Hudson after his return from scuba.  We make our way up to the dive shop and see him out of the corner of our eyes and notice him beaming at his success.  We buy him a Tshirt to commemorate his accomplishment.  We have to say goodbye to Ida as she is leaving to go on a Visa Run in the morning and we will not have a chance to see her again.  Hudson and Paulie go off to have their pictures made for our impending Visa as well as for his Padi Dive License and then bring them back to the dive shop. We return to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. We end up eating at nearby at the restaurant where all of the new open water divers celebrate after receiving their licenses and no one can even finish their meals…..goes to show that although we are eating wonderful food, our stomachs are starting to shrink! Back at the hotel we watch a movie and then off to bed.

Keeping on...

­­March 24

Today is Sam and Hudson’s time for an early am wake up call for diving.  Unfortunately, Hudson has had a pretty severe fever all throughout the night and will not be able to make it today.  Sam heads out with Paulie to get on the dive boat and then Paulie returns back to the hotel.  Seems that Sam is very comfortable with Ida and is ready for the final day of testing.  What a trooper!  Hudson stays in the bed most of the day while the rest of us hang out at the beach and laze around as well.  We meet back up with Sam and Ida and the only last bit is for Sam to take a final exam which he aces…way to go Sam!  We have a pretty low key night with dinner out and and early bed time.  Hudson will have a chance to make up his testing tomorrow and we want to make sure he is ready for the challenge.

Diving in Koh Tao

March 23

Today Annie is due to be at the dive shop at 6:30am for a deep dive and Paulie will accompany her down to the depths.  Only problem is that her itouch is still on Singapore time and therefore instead of being awakened at 6:00, the alarm goes off at 5:00am.  Paulie and Annie are out the door and waiting in front of a very dark dive shop at the appointed hour, only to realize the error of time.  They re-enter the hotel room as everyone has just gotten back to sleep…they tell of their woes and within another 30 minutes have vanished to return to the dive shop.  The boys and I are only due to arrive at the dive shop after lunch, so we are free and easy for the morning.  We try to regain some sleep and then go down to the restaurant for breakfast/lunch around 11:00.  Hudson is not feeling well, but we are due to be at the dive shop and make our way there for the noon departure.  I decide to go along with them on the boat and we are soon off to the Japanese Gardens and Twins dive sites.  Once we arrive, they boys get geared up and they are soon off into the water.  The jump in like pros and soon re-emerge to warm up on the boat.  Hudson at this point has taken a turn for the worse, in fact, he is showing signs of having a pretty serious fever.  He opts out of the second dive while Sam and Ida head back under the water.  Once they are back up, the boat soon returns to shore where poor Hudson limps home and into bed.  We administer some rever reducing medications and give him whatever creature comforts we can find.  We spend the remainder of the afternoon relaxing as Annie and Paulie will be leaving soon for a night dive.  Annie seems very brave and ready for the excursion, although I don’t know how.  It would totally freak me out to do that, but she and Paulie are really excited.  Sam and I have dinner down at the restaurant and return with Pizza for Hudson.  Annie and Paulie return late and have a dinner for themselves before retiring for the night.